Robert "Bob" Longfield is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 and educator

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, best known for his compositions for Concert Band

Concert band

A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...

 and String Orchestra

String orchestra

A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...

.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

, he graduated with honors from the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 where he studied with Jerry Bilik

Jerry Bilik

Jerry Bilik is an American composer, arranger, songwriter, conductor, and director of stage productions.Bilik studied with Tibor Serly who had been a student of Béla Bartók...

 and Paul Boylan, and was a member of the band under William D. Revelli and George Cavender where he played saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

. He received his Masters degree in Music Education

Music education

Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...

 from the University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

 where he was a student and personal friend of Alfred Reed

Alfred Reed

Alfred Reed was one of North America's most prolific and frequently performed composers, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name...

.

For fifteen years, Longfield was the band and orchestra director at Davison High School in Davison, Michigan

Davison, Michigan

Davison is a city in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and a suburb of Flint. The population was 5,536 at the 2000 census. Davison is located within Davison Township, but is administratively autonomous....

. Since 1987, he has held a similar position at Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Pinecrest, Florida

Pinecrest, Florida

Pinecrest is a suburban village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States of America. The population was 19,055 as of the census of 2000. Pinecrest is governed by a five-member Village Council and operates under the Council-Manager form of government....

. Longfield was the recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award by the Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 School Band and Orchestra Association. In 1996, he received the Mr. Holland Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...

 and Sciences for outstanding contributions to music education

Music education

Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...

.

A member of ASCAP, Longfield has received several commissions and has over one hundred publications to his credit. His compositions and arrangements have been played and recorded by bands throughout the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as well as in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

He is currently the conductor of the Greater Miami Symphonic Band.

Selected Compositions and Arrangements

Music for Concert Band:

• Hallelujah Chorus (from "The Messiah")
• Cross Current
• America
• Purple Twilight
• Eine Kleine "Pop" Musik
• El Relicario (arrangement)
• Freedom, Justice, Honor
• In Glory Triumphant
• In Quest of Excellence
• Menuetto
• Passacaglia on an Old English Carol
• Russian Sailor Dance
• Rapp's Woods Ramble
• Sanctuary
• Symphony No.2 in C minor
• Take the Blues Train
• The Abduction from Seraglio
• The Honor Roll
• The "X" Brigade
• Turkish March
• When Summer's in the Meadow
• Where Valor Proudly Sleeps
• Vortex

Music for String Orchestra:

• American Heritage Suite No. 1
• Fugue No. 5 in D Major
• Intrigue (A Tangoed Web)
• Over the Waves
• Plaisir d'amour
• Prelude in E Minor
• Rondo in Blue
• The Skaters' Waltz
• The Journey of the Magi
• When Summer's in the Meadow